Kevin Brown, a heritage home expert from The Heritage Window Company, shares his expertise, with additional insight from conveyancing solicitors Beecham Peacock.
I’ve spent more than 30 years working on heritage, listed and modern properties, and in all that time I’ve never seen buyers as nervous about the small print as they are right now. What’s keeping people up at night isn’t the asking price. It’s the running costs and service charges in particular.
The numbers speak for themselves. According to research by estate agency Hamptons, the average service charge paid by flat owners in England and Wales hit £2,405 a year in 2025. That’s up 4.6% on the year before – and the first time the average has exceeded £200/month. Over the past decade, charges have climbed by 56%, comfortably outpacing inflation.
For a lot of leaseholders, that’s the difference between a home they can afford and one they can’t. And here’s the part that should worry any prospective buyer. The problem has moved beyond affordability. It now comes down to whether you can sell at all.
How service charges are crippling new buyers and sellers
Hamptons research from 2025 showed that 37% of flats now carry service charges of 1% or more of the property’s value. Anything above that threshold can cause mortgage lenders tend to get twitchy and often refuse to lend altogether, making flats an increasingly difficult prospect to mortgage and therefore sell on.
In practice, for homeowners, this means buying a flat, looking after it and doing everything else right, before the service charge creeps up year after year and your buyer’s mortgage application gets declined on the property.
Suddenly you’re stuck. You can’t move for work, you can’t upsize for a growing family and you can’t downsize to release equity. You’re trapped in a home you technically own but can’t get out of.
There are plenty of homeowners in the same boat. A Propertymark report from July 2026 found that 78% of estate agents had pulled a leasehold property off the market over the past two years because it was effectively unsellable, citing onerous service charges as the main barrier. The same report found nine in 10 leaseholders regretted buying.
That’s a staggering figure for what’s supposed to be the biggest and proudest purchase of most people’s lives – and a big reason why homebuyers should be focusing on freeholds, rather than leaseholds, if they can afford it.
What the conveyancing experts say
Newcastle law firm Beecham Peacock handles house purchases for buyers every week, and the team always advises buyers not to limit themselves to one type of property, in case of service charge issues.
“Thanks to soaring service charges, the tenure of a property can be make or break for potential buyers,” says Morag Polmear, Property Partner at Beecham Peacock. “With a freehold, you own the property and the land it stands on outright. There’s no lease ticking down, no ground rent and no service charge unless you’re on a managed estate.
“Those buying a leasehold flat only own their individual flat, rather than the entire building. Freehold flats are very rare, but buyers continue to appreciate the perceived convenience of modern blocks of flats.
“With leasehold agreements, you’re relying on a freeholder or managing agent to set the service charge fairly, but plenty of leaseholders are finding those charges rise faster than they ever budgeted for. We always advise clients to treat the service charge history as seriously as the asking price.”
Morag continues: “The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is meant to end the feudal leasehold system and make commonhold the default, but progress has been slow. Only a handful of the Act’s provisions have actually come into force, and existing leaseholders are rightly worried they’ll be left behind.
“If you’re buying today, I wouldn’t count on legislation rescuing you from a difficult purchase several years down the line. You have to make the decision on the facts as they stand now.”
Why older properties might be the answer
So, this is why opting for an older property might be increasingly lucrative for prospective buyers. The vast majority of heritage houses, from Georgian townhouses and Victorian terraces to characterful cottages, are sold freehold. They predate the modern flat-block model of ownership entirely. However, they’re often overlooked in favour of homeowners that want modern, turnkey interiors and facilities.
Now, I’d never pretend an older home is maintenance-free – far from it. When you own the freehold, the upkeep is on you and heritage properties come with their own quirks, like draughty sash windows, ageing sealant and original features that need care.
But there’s a world of difference between spending money on your own home, on your own terms, and handing over an ever-rising sum to a freeholder or managing agent with little say in how it’s spent. My business has worked with its fair share of heritage homeowners over the years, fitting aluminium windows, glazing and more – and every owner I speak to values that sense of control. They decide what gets done and when.
The same principle applies whether you’re talking about a listed cottage or a new-build house. Ownership without an open-ended bill attached is worth a great deal. Buyers are only now waking up to just how much.
What to check before you buy
If you’re buying, following a few practical steps will help you understand whether the service charge could be a barrier to finding your dream home.
Check the tenure before anything else. Freehold or leasehold should be one of the very first questions you ask, well before it becomes a detail you discover at the conveyancing stage.
If it’s leasehold, demand the service charge history. Ask for the last five years rather than just this year’s figure, so you can see the trajectory. A charge that’s doubled in that time will very likely double again.
Weigh up freehold alternatives seriously. Yes, a freehold house often costs more upfront than a leasehold flat. But factor in years of escalating charges and the very real risk of being unable to sell, and the maths can easily tip the needle the other way.
A home should be a source of security rather than a financial trap you can’t escape. For a growing number of buyers, freehold ownership and the peace of mind that comes with it, is looking like the smarter move. In my experience, the people who prioritise control over their own four walls are rarely the ones who end up with regrets.
